April PEAKS: Stress Awareness Month
Fun fact: April is Stress Awareness Month!
Since stress reduction is also a key pillar in Lifestyle Medicine, I think it’s fitting that we explore stress in relation to your PEAKS in closer detail today. 🔽
PAIN:
I don’t need to remind you that stress and chronic pain are closely linked together. If you’ve been around for these PEAKS long enough, you've gotten the memo! Let’s do two things: let’s dive deeper into the “why” and let’s explore how quickly we can make some changes.
So WHY does stress impact our experience of pain so much? A few reasons! One big reason is cortisol. When we experience stress, our cortisol levels rise. This is true both for short-term and long-term stress. Cortisol has been shown to increase our sensitivity to pain, creating a vicious cycle of high stress → more pain → more stress → even more pain.
The good news is that we can lower our cortisol levels even in the presence of stress, both in the short and the long term.
In the short term, we can practice things like light movement, breathing techniques, mental fitness exercises, and intentional relaxation practices to help calm our bodies in the moments of intense stress. And in the long-term, improving our relationship with food and our eating habits, prioritizing energizing movement, improving our social connections and sense of connection (just to name a few) will help reduce our stress levels overall AND make our “in the moment” techniques even more effective.
EXERCISE:
We also talk a lot about exercise and stress, so let’s look into the “why” here, too.
Exercise releases endorphins and dopamine (along with a host of other brain “juices”) - two things that are designed specifically to reduce pain and make us feel good. Here’s the thing: we have a tendency to associate these positive effects with vigorous exercise (which may have disastrous effects if you are struggling with pain), when in reality your body releases these chemicals from even moderate amounts of low-impact movements like walking, gentle yoga, or dancing in your kitchen!
We also have a natural instinct to move our body when we’re feeling stressed or anxious. Think when you stub your toe and you jump around a bit, or when you’re feeling stressed about a big work call later and you find yourself pacing around your living room. We naturally want to move when stressed - our nervous system KNOWS that it helps us feel better.
Let’s lean into it!
ALL ABOUT WELLNESS:
Even if you feel good about your life in all of the objective ways - job that you like, family that you love, hobby that you enjoy - chronic stress still has a way to decrease your overall sense of happiness and well-being. It’s sneaky!
You might’ve said something like, “My life is great, why am I feeling so stressed and totally out of control of my feelings?!” The truth is that stress is everywhere, and it can hijack our sense of control and safety if we let it. This is where mental fortitude comes in. It’s vital that we strengthen our ability to 1) recognize when stress is present 2) understand where it’s coming from and 3) respond vs react to it.
Because here’s the thing: stress is natural and important! Our brain uses these feelings to signal to us “hey, something is getting a little too difficult for our threshold.” So our job is two-fold: manage and reduce stress where possible AND increase our threshold to deal with the natural stress of life. Stress is normal-how we deal with it is our choice.
KRAVEABLE RECIPES:
Another vicious cycle here. Less-than-ideal nutrition → inhibited stress management → stress eating → worsened eating habits → increased stress.
The hang up here is most often time - time to eat healthy, time to find new recipes, time to cook. For that, explore this list of dinners that can be done in about 20 minutes: https://www.eatingwell.com/gallery/13723/20-healthy-meals-you-can-make-in-20-minutes/
Another roadblock here is that when we’re stressed, what do we crave? Sweets! Carbs! Fast food! And here’s the thing: everything in moderation. We absolutely can enjoy some of our favorite foods when the time is right-the issue with chronic stress is that it always feels like the time is right.
For that, let’s explore some foods that can help you curb those sweet tooth cravings (https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-that-fight-sugar-cravings) and some that will help you curve those savory cravings (https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/healthy-salty-snacks).
SILLY:
Laughter and stress reduction? Bring it on. Let me know if you try any of these techniques and how it worked out for you.
Did you know “stressed” spelled backwards is “desserts”? Here we are diving into humor and nutrition! See link above for healthier sweet tooth options.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
See you in May!
Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out last month's newsletter that was all about Lifestyle Medicine, and tag along for next month's newsletter where we talk about small steps to better mental health.
Responses